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The Other Rain Forests
| Article
# : |
20586 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1992 |
1,606 Words |
| Author
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Henry Lansford
Henry Lansford is a free-lance writer and communication
consultant based in Boulder, Colorado. He has been writing
about the natural resources of the Rocky Mountain West for the
past twenty-four years. He is also scientific writer-editor
for the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center of the State
University of New York at Albany. |
Among the many natural ecosystems of our planet that are threatened with disruption or destruction by human activities, the rain forest has become one of the most venerated icons of the environmental movement. Partly because their preservation has been taken up as a cause celebre by such high-profile advocates as actor Robert Redford and rock superstar Sting, tropical rain forests have received a great deal of attention from the news media and the public. Vast areas in South America, Southeast Asia, and Africa--treasuries of biodiversity that play a key role in the chemical balance of the global atmosphere--are rapidly being deforested by logging, farming, and ranching. Less than half of our planet's tropical rain forests still stand, and the destruction continues at the frightening pace of some 50,000 square miles each year.
Not all rain forests are tropical, however. Although the rain forests of the temperate zones are not as extensive or as well publicized as those that lie between the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer, they are just as fragile, complex, and fascinating. In North America, temperate rain forests stand on Washington's Olympic Peninsula, along the west coast of Canada's Vancouver Island, and in southeastern Alaska. In the southern hemisphere, they are found in Chile and Tasmania.
Less Diversity
Temperate rain forests are similar to tropical ones is some ways. They both have big trees with crowns that grow together to form closed canopies; a lush understory of smaller trees, shrubs, and vines; and lots of epiphytes--plants that draw their nutrients from the air and rain-growing on tree trunks and branches. There also are many differences. Tropical rain forests have more varieties of plant and animal life. Many temperate-zone species became extinct during the frigid periods that we call ice ages, but tropical species have been evolving without interruption for a hundred million years.
A National Academy of Sciences report estimates that a typical four square miles of tropical rain forest contains 100 species of reptiles, 125 species of mammals, and 400 species of birds. Temperate rain forests have fewer species, but they appear to support a greater biomass--total amount of living matter--per square mile, as their trees tend to be taller and more massive. Much more animal life--monkeys, birds, frogs, and lizards--lives in the canopies of tropical rain forests. Many of these tree dwelling creatures make raucous noises, and some others, such as leeches, snakes, and spiders, have habits that are generally regarded
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